Every great batsman, great bowler or great team in test history has had to show versatility & adaptability by performing @ home & away from home.
If Sehwag continues to just dominate in India & look like poor away from home outside of his comfort zone, that will prevent him from ever being considered a truly great opener. Since all the great openers in test history who have earnt that accolade in the psot-war era have had to score runs againts the best of attacks @ home & away from home.
That's a fairly orthodox definition of great. Sehwag is a fairly unorthodox batsman and is very unique batsman in modern-day cricket. In the future, I think we will see other batsmen emerge who are as devastating as he is at the top of the order given favorable conditions and I think they will be compared to Sehwag in terms of destruction.
Flat pitches have existed throughout history. Yes, they're probably flatter now. But what Sehwag manages to do in favorable conditions and the manner in which he does it is incomparable to any batsman in the past or present (except maybe Viv Richards though I haven't actually seen him bat).
Not acknowledging what Sehwag does is like taking credit for any scientific paper just because it did not win the Nobel prize.
sohum added 11 Minutes and 26 Seconds later...
So many in test hsitory by all the great batsmen i can't name all right. All of Tendulkar, Lara, Ponting, Viv Richards, G Chappell, G Pollock, Greenidge, Steve Waugh, Gavaskar, Dravid, Hayden, Neil Harvey, Kallis, Sobers etc etc etc etc etc@ some point in their careers scored runs againts a top pace attack in bowler friendly conditions. None ever looked so vulnerable againts such bowlling in such conditions like Sehwag did.
I agree with most of your post but you are entering murky territory here. Highlighted for emphasis is Ponting and how vulnerable he looked against Ishant Sharma in the 2008 series, where the conditions aided seam bowling. The Ponting issue can also be looked at from a different angle--spin bowling. He has struggled against the turning ball for a fair part of his career.
Every batsman struggles at some point or another in their career--that's why we measure form. Every batsman at some point or another looks clueless against some form of bowling. To claim that some batsmen are unstoppable even on the worst batting pitches is not inaccurate--it is false. The pitch wouldn't be a bad batting pitch if batsmen weren't struggling on it.
A batsman like Ponting was great because he was able to succeed in spite of having some limitations. So far, I'd say Sehwag has been fairly successful for India. He's playing in an era where Indian cricket is stronger than it was with Gavaskar--so obviously there isn't a fair compare available. If Sehwag proves to be even average in the upcoming tours to South Africa/Australia, I'd say he'd be pretty happy when he retires since he was dominant in conditions he was used to and decent in conditions that were alien to him.
sohum added 2 Minutes and 28 Seconds later...
We shall discuss further only after the South African tour. The only conclusion that I have come across reading the entire thread is that War surely is a jealous, racist (not in the typical way) and a bonehead.
He can post and write anything and everything to prove his wrong point correct.
Well, then you need to take off the blue-tinted glasses and read again. War's points make a lot of sense. Sehwag does have a lot to prove if he wants to be in discussions for the game's best ever openers. He doesn't have to be world-class in seaming/swinging conditions, but he's currently below average.
The only part I disagree with War is that he hasn't conceded that Sehwag is a very special batsman, yet. If what Sehwag did was not special, we'd not be excited every time we saw a greater than run-a-ball double or triple century.
